Return too 30-06

[Don_Parsons]

The Cast boolitz coming are non-gas check, so low velocities for these rounds till I get my hands on the 180gr gas check boolitz. Yes, 165gr too get started with.

1 too 1.2 ft-per second as they are not keen to hot gas temps. From what I've read so far.

These lead rocks will be up fronted by Red Dot pistol powder with cotton wad filler like the old days.
The cotton is burnt off long before the boolit leaves the barrle.

The filler keeps the powder charge at the heel of the case so long as they stand up right till shooting time.

Cooper free barrle before shooting the leads, and lead free before doing the jackets.
$0.2 cents per boolit.

Non-gas check is good for 2" groups at 50 yards.
Gas checked reach out way past that as they can handle the 2.0 too 2.1 ft-per second if they are high in the hardness category.

Lots too learn in this category.

Don.

PS: some folks harvest game and furry critters with them, my plan is too up my game plan at more iron silhouette targets.

The close stuff getting going as I push these limits.

Don

[Don_Parsons]

By going to cast lead/lynol boolitz with Red Dot powder will save me multi hundreds of funds.

The boolitz work out too $0.02 each.
A 1 lb can of powder will do 500 to 538 rounds.

Non gas-check boolitz are fun too plink with, and some folks use them for small predator control, 110 to 150gr'ers. The heavier boolitz work for this too.

The gas-check boolitz in the heavy grain work for deer as they claim up too 200 yards if the re-loader person can get these boolitz up to 1600 too 1800 ft-per second. I would limit anything like this too 100 + yards...

If a person does a good job at the casting and re-loading thing,,, then entering the 600 yard target match series could be an option

Prone, kneeling, sitting and standing free hand with peep hole or iron sights along with sling,,, I'm only guessing there is a 10 lb rifle rule.

Cast lead boolitz were the only option for the 30/06 back in its day,,, they were still in use at the beginning of world war II if I recall.

The 30/40, 303, and 30/06 all worked well with what they had back then, and it seems that the return too cast lead alloy boolitz are slowly coming back. This is due to costs.

If we have too pay $60 ish for a lb of powder and $40 for a box of 50 bullets, then for those of us that choose to keep our costs in check, then this is another option.

It works for me since I have my old lead casting stuff from my Black powder muzzle loader days, any person can make their frugal lead cast set up.

The cautions are keeping a very keen eye and mind when loading pistol powders into rifle cases,,, *** A person does not ever want too put in a double change ever.***

And glasses, leather gloves with venting,,, I wear my fire proof jacket since I've had the opertunity too see a hot molten lead disaster up close,,, dam lucky I am.

I've had good success with round ball and Mines over the years, now its time to bring this too what we consider the modern cartrage age here in Alberta.

Many of us know that the 45/70 folk benefit from these boolitz even today as they take on the thick skins here in our Americas. They have a proven track record with there heavy hitters.
Not so much as the mid weight like our Odd-6, but they have enough too tackle the small Deer category

I'm not up too speed on this 30/06 cast boolitz thing, but I'm soon too find out pretty soon.

Don

[Don_Parsons]

Today is TR/ Full Bore practic for the weekend.

One of the long time folks at our range is willing too assist me at getting back up too speed on what I've long forgot/ or better known as "laxed up on" over the years.

My forum skills have got real sloppy over the years, so having a fellow marks-man spot for me will pick out areas of set-up forum of better consistency.

Having access too these folks allows for better fore-mat over my adventures.

Peter has many years under his belt.


And Fred has a fraction of well learned skills like no other.


It all looks simple, but a person only knows how steady our hands are once we get too the 400 meter staging area with light gustsing winds.

It's a whole new ball game at the 6, 7, and 800 staging grounds.

Even they start scratching their heads when they set-up at the 900 meter mark,,, that target down range is a looooooong ways away with open peep sights.


Hoping for smooth hands this weekend.

Don

[Don_Parsons]

Things are finally coming together for my sports-ter,,, I never got the chance too practic the arm/sling TR stuff as my friend had other things that came up... It wasn't till much later that he showed up about the time I was rapping up form the weekend.

He came out too pop off a few shoots any ways.
Here's his Lee Enfield number 4 chambered in 7.62/ or 308.


He has used this rifle since 1954 up to today's date.


He had it built in England for the big match over there.
She's one sweet rifle.

Any Who,,, I finally made it out too the 600 mark.


Very lucky too get things onto the 14"x14" target with all 5 shoots with 3 groups. "lucky is all."

It's a long long road too get it too a consistant constant.
Reloading skills 2.20 are soon too get underway this week.

Awesome weekend in all, even got the chance to meet one of the team Canada F Class couches too.

His shooting skills are threw the roof, I seen him at the Homestead range a few weeks ago as I thought he was just one of the guys. Ha.

Yuppers, one of the guys with the skill and know how to getter done alright.

Very humbled too meet so many quality marks men and women,,, I have been very lucky too be able too do this as it will hopefully improve my skills in the years too follow.

[mgvande]

Originally Posted by Don_Parsons

The Cast boolitz coming are non-gas check, so low velocities for these rounds till I get my hands on the 180gr gas check boolitz. Yes, 165gr too get started with.

1 too 1.2 ft-per second as they are not keen to hot gas temps. From what I've read so far.

These lead rocks will be up fronted by Red Dot pistol powder with cotton wad filler like the old days.
The cotton is burnt off long before the boolit leaves the barrle.

The filler keeps the powder charge at the heel of the case so long as they stand up right till shooting time.

Cooper free barrle before shooting the leads, and lead free before doing the jackets.
$0.2 cents per boolit.

Non-gas check is good for 2" groups at 50 yards.
Gas checked reach out way past that as they can handle the 2.0 too 2.1 ft-per second if they are high in the hardness category.

Lots too learn in this category.

Don.

PS: some folks harvest game and furry critters with them, my plan is too up my game plan at more iron silhouette targets.

The close stuff getting going as I push these limits.

Don

The Red dot works great with 30-30 with out filler with light plinking cast rounds. If it works without it could save some time. 303 gets 4227 with 1/2 grain dacron

[Don_Parsons]

Thx MG,,, Yes with out filler as I did some more reading from the Ed Harris article. I can see his book is going to have a place in our house as he's right up on this stuff.

Any Who,,, the tools that allowed me too reach the 600 meter mark with my 30/06 sports-ter was JBM ballistics calculater, the Nikon optics with BDC retrical, and shooting between the gust of winds.

The heat wave water lines where slowly drifting, and the hot pipe had mirages rolling off of it causing optic distortion like krazy.

She was some hot and muggy at RMH as tornado warming were up and running.

I'm talking the pan handle of Southern Ontario muggy.
I had my towel, but I can see that a few more of them are about too find there way into my shooting bags.
At least it wasn't the Guatemala heat wave as use Canadians would only imagine how hot is hot down there.

It was kinda like adding stress too my shooting plate forum, which is good as it drives me forward too consider this and later in the year when it's -40c with winds blowing from the tops of the mountains.

Temperature fluctuations allow us to be keen too the change at hand, it's each person's choosing on how they deal with this if they choose.

I'm game as its part of my being out-doors in our Americas. I'd rather do this any day then have to watch the painful thing folks call TV.

Our house has 400++ channels and there ain't nothing on ours.

Good times at any expense so long as its the right side of the door with out limits.

Don

[Don_Parsons]

Here's the brass idea.


1 box of 100 for Lapua compared too 2 boxes of Hornady too make up for 100 brass.

The Lapua box is $119 = quantity of 100
Hornady at $96 = quantity of 100.

I wasn't planning on this approach, but for the extra few bucks it only makes sense.

I heard that the % of defect "could" be from 7 to 10 ish % using Lapua brass,,, so this "could allow me too reap the rewards of 93 too 90% of quality brass.

After volume weighing out the Hornady brass I have ranges of 178gr too 184gr doing the 1gr split,,,
If I was too perform the 0.5 split it would be X's two that.

12 volume size cases from 200 brass makes it challenging too load for a-possed too half of that with Lapua brass.

Some folks get away with the 0.75 split which is 3/4gr volume per-case,,, my pal Vick mentioned its wizer to choose the 0.5 or 1/2gr split for match purposes.

Again, up too each person too find what works for their own unique needs.

My Hornady brass will still be part of the master plan,,, its now ready for annealing this week.
At least I can group it into the larger batch % since it will be come the general plinking stuff.

Learning along the way.

Don

[duceman]

junk the hornady brass; spend your time in areas that will benefit you rather than weighing brass, lee

[6.5x47 lapua]

Originally Posted by duceman

junk the hornady brass; spend your time in areas that will benefit you rather than weighing brass, lee

agreed.brass weighing is pointless.internal volume must be measured.

[Don_Parsons]

Yes, weight too volume works best.

I'm thinking I'll do the Lapua brass only since it works out pretty close.

Just looked at Hornady cost today in Red Deer,,, $70 ish for a box of 50.

Lapua brass is looking better each day.

Don

[Don_Parsons]

Some time today this jugger-knot finds a new home.


Its claimed by the manufactor that it works in 30/06 case size volumes for 150gr bullets,,, but in reality its not for my purposes.

I'm doing the 178/180gr thing, so the H world is most likely where I'm heading.

Varget works awesome in 308, 243/6mm and smaller case capacity.

Yes it is so so fair on the edges of old school Odd-6,,, just not my take on getting-er done.

A run at the Hodgdon stuff in my ammo building mid large volume cases only make sense.

Don

[duceman]

4350 is your friend................

[Don_Parsons]

Yuppers too H4350,,, I'm also going to give H4831 a run for its money.

Some powders might be slow ft-per second yet the powders I test have good psi or cup.

Getting the case capacity into the 90 too 97% on up to partly crush has increased down range grouping on paper.

I did the IMR 4064 low ft-per second burn on the weekend as I've found a good charge too launch the 178gr'ers.

I'll choose a fraction slower burn rate powder on the next outting.

Don

[Don_Parsons]

Looks like another good weekend at the rifle range.

She was some hot hot yesterday as the folks at the pistol range are doing their competition shooting this weekend as well. The out door stuff looks pretty challenging since they spent the larger portion of the day under the sun with no cover. Ha.

Makes them tuffen up for other matches too come.

Any Who,,, my long time friend told me about P&D shop in Edmonton, so I can honestly say it is like heaven in that shop.

Its now on my #1 check list for the all stuff since the selection is too much of a good thing.
They stock alot of rifles, rifle tooling candy, accessories for rifles, and reloading trinkets too the roof.

Kinda like a gold mine for us rifle folks.

I know that many folks on AO knew this, so this is just a heads up too new comers into the firearms world.

Those of us that want too shop local here in Alberta will be very pleased too know that its worth making the call too them as they either have what we need in stock, or they can order most everything in.

I'm sending a thankyou card too them this week since they rock for all my needs local, and the staff is awesome too chat with as they will go out of their way to make sure we the customers find what we're looking for.

Good times just around the corner is what I've been looking for on my path.

Don

[Don_Parsons]

So my Ruger M77 dose not like Varget powder for 178/180gr bullets nor for the 147/150gr mid-weitghs.
I'll try 2 different primers next outting too confirm this.

So later in the day a long time friend showed up and he give me his top 7 picks of powders for 150, 165, 175, 180, 190, 200, 212gr bullets.

I was working with 150gr'ers, so I decided too throw the H-4350 into the mix.
Normally I always start in the middle grounds with all powders,,, so after doing 3 shots we found the primers weren't even close too flat and the 100 group was the craps.

After working our way up the ladder the down range groups stated too tighten up and bingo.
We found a winner finally.

Just a fraction off of max H-4350 change the grouping came together.
This by far is the best consistant grouping I've seen so far,,, and now comes the fine-tuning.

Pal Allan is a wealth of old school info when it comes too many calibers from 22 up too 338,,, and 50 years of working the 30/06 world in bolt actions and semi autos has trained him well...

He took the time too explain the powders, cases sizes, neck tensions, bore diameter, and many other factors that factor in "why" each bullet length / weight works with the selections of different powders.

There are 7 too 10 powders that most folks have had the best results from,,, these are the ones that are listed in the reload books,,, that's not saying there isn't 10 on top nor 10 below that shouldn't be over looked either. LOL.

I see 3 powders for sure that are entering the 150gr test phases for the 150gr.

The 3 powders for the 178/180 bullets after that.

Kinda neet too get this info down on paper for a later date when needed as Allan shared his simple attack plan at figuring things out.

Finally on the path of least resistance when it comes to reloading, I had part of it sorted back in my day for a few other caliber rifles, but slowly forgot alot of it when I did the archery thing.

Now its refreshed as I step up my game plan.
Funny how one person can make it click with simple conversation, and put it down on paper too explain the concepts.

Don

[Don_Parsons]

Lots of stuff happening today.

My 30/06 Remmy LR is ready for picking up, and another long time friend is lending me his 308 heavy barrel for a the weekend.

3 days of endless shooting too dial both of these units in.

This has been a fun year, meet many a new folks from all across south central Alberta, and soon too visit with the southern BC folks as we try out some high elevation mountain shooting in those parts.

Very lucky too have many friends in all corners of our Americas.

Good time at every turn.

Don

[Don_Parsons]

Yee Ha for today.

My Remington Long Range rifle project is ready too rock, and my good friend lent me his target rifle for the weekend.

Both are mid heavy weigths units as I try to get some lead down range with some kind of consistency.

This has been by far the most interesting and rewarding summer too-date, iron silhouette stuff from years ago was super fun,,, and now a chance too see it on paper in the fine-tuning stages will put it all together.

Today's plan is practicing shooting forum and set-up,,, hopefully the winds and mirages roll in on the flags as it puts a new perspective too this dialing in stuff.

I was pretty much winging it in the iron silhouette stuff years ago, but this target idea is a bit more intense.
At least I have most of the Tac in place too limit faults at the mechanical side of things.

Good times forward into what might need addressing in days to come.

Don

[Don_Parsons]

Brass fire forming is coming along, 140 done so far.

I wish the range was had more distance than 600M, but its better than nothing.

The winds kicked up a bit yesterday and it kept things interesting, I thought my custom made 30/06 would have a tighter group at the 6 mark as it did ok, but the loner rifle my friend lent me kicked arrrs. Ha.

That little Remmy SPS mid weigth 308 drives tacks like nothing.
The 26"x21" 600M iron plate was taking a beating from the Ohh-8, its consistency is threw the roof.
The Odd-6 will do the same once I get use too the feather light trigger.

The only adjustment yesterday was moving the optics forward 3 notched on the rail, this allows me to see the black optic ring that I use too center the cross hairs.

Both rifles will be at it all day as I start different ranging drops from 300 too 600.
The longer distances beyond that will happen at the farm.

Once the brass is formed, then it's 178gr time.

Don

[Don_Parsons]

Another good day in the rifle world.

I had the chance to borrow a 308 Remmy 700 SPS medium Heavy barrel Varmint for a few weeks now.

My friend lent it too me in hopes I'd take it off his hands as it did not fit his needs since he likes small bore cartrages.

The price was right so now I own a "short Case" 30/06,,, its only 100 ft-per seconds slower than my 30/06 that I consider a 308 improved. LOL

Both rifles like the ELD-X HUNTER 178gr'ers at 2550 velocities.

This SPS Heavy barrel complements my Remmy LR, and it's like having a small brother.

It alines me too jump into FTR class of shooting.

Originally my plan was too remain with one rifle as it keeps things simple, but getting the opertunity too shoot in F Class changed that.

The challange at this make it fun, especially as we move back to further distances beyond what I've normally do in iron silhouette.

And the people are simply fantastic too learn from, very Keen minded when they bunker down too shoot.

Nothing like adding more good times.

Don

[marxman]

I thought you were getting back to basics now youve turned too the 308

[Deer Hunter]

These Remington 700 sps 308 win 26" varmint barrels are excellent. Mine got a Richard microfit stock, trigger tech and a sightron. Shoots 168 smks over reloader 15.
Shot this 0.5" group at 300 yards a few weeks ago. Usually around 1.5" at this range but this was exceptional. Especially considering I bought the gun for 600$. Just thought I'd share and agree with your assement.

[sns2]

That's good shooting Deer Hunter

[Don_Parsons]

Yes, my plan was to own one 30/06 and leave it at that, but the 308 was too good too pass up on. I call it a "short case 30/06.

It's first shooting proved to me that 178gr ELD-X bullets with 44gr of Varget makes it a contender to my 30/06.

Even though the Remmy SPS 308 is a fraction lighter than my Remmy LR Odd-6, it is one accurate rifle.
It out scored metal gong hits at 600 meters.

Both rifles are launching these bullets at 2550 ft-per second, recoil is pretty much the same. Both these rifles will allow me to take on 2 categories of F Class shooting.

FTR category that is 223 & 308 only, and F-Open that is all other rifle calibers. I was hoping too shoot factory, but there are not that many folks in that class.

I just returned from the Mountains of thick smoke as I finished ranging my 30/06 from 700 too 1000 meters,,, I was going to continue adding distance out too the mile but it was pretty hard seeing the target due to the smoke.

The light trigger is working for me, it took some getting used to.
The Short Case Odd-6 is heading in for a few upgrades.
I'll do a different scope on it.

Some folks going into match have 2 rifles incase 1 goes down. It doesn't normally happen, but why take the chances.
I'd hate too miss a weekend down there as the shooters are top notch and fun too be around.

Can't wait too battle the winds and hopefully some rains as these competitions put us in our place.

Don

[Don_Parsons]

P&D rocks.

They handle Nikon optics for this 30/06 short case build.

A Nikon 4-20x50ED with advanced BDC retrical will open up the 2 categories I'm after.

Critter harvests and F match.

The BDC retrical with built in millage circles will make for fast harvests as the turret dials will be for match shooting.

My other option is the Nikon Black 1000 with built in ranging lines, but it makes the viewing more complicating,,, I'm sure it has its place in the shooting world, but I'm more about keeping things too a minimum of sorts.

I'll do some more fact finding first too make sure the cross hairs are partly thin enough yet are bold enough too fit the mix.

No one scope is perfect for both categories, but at least we can narrow it down so we get the best we can at funding a mix that will work for us over the long haul.

Don

[Don_Parsons]

Lots of range time this week for the old Odd-6 as I tried a few boxes of those Burger 175 hunter bullets.

They have good G7 ballistics and they are some sweet too shoot.

The 168 VLD's was the other reloads. as they zip right along .

Got lucky as an old friend showed up for a few hours. He switch too a different caliber of rifle this year, part of his collection of ammo was Hornady 178gr A-Maxs,,, so I took all of them off his hands. Ha.

And 30+ lbs of powder.

My Reloading station is getting pretty full, this is a good thing since the price was right.

The short action Odd-6 is in for a full F Class work over from top too bottom.
This is a good thing since the real Odd-6 will be next in line.

Burning powder and chucking lead is what its all about.
Tree stands and ground blinds are up for archery and soon rifle season.

Ye Ha, bring on the good times.


Happy Harvesting all as we get things underway over the next few months.

Don

[propliner]

This is great stuff and I hate to be the politically-incorrect grammar nazi but using the words "to" and "too" in their proper contexts would make for infinitely more pleasant reading.

[Don_Parsons]

I agree, I try to blend in with our kids and there friends. Ha

Proper English is hard for me since most English words I pick up on are from the world wide web.

All good as I buckle down in the proper Manitoba English category.

Any ways, getting a custom rifle bolt is like ordering a new truck with end-less options.

LOL. Good thing we spec the action before ordering
The Cherry wood F Class stock and barrel need a bit of planing to.

Don

[Don_Parsons]

Had a awesome weekend at the rifle range.

Finished ranging the BDC, then took it out west for the long distance river clay bank shoot. 400 to 1 km.

Lots of field time practicing ranging by BDC retrical and MOA dials.

Lots of distance ranging by eye and range finder to guess-timate hits.
My first two guesses were spot on,,, 400m and 700 on 2 large borders, but the 900 and 1000m rocks put me off by a few feet. LOL.

They were bigger than I thought.

I got a chance at the range to shoot my first 338 Lapua with custom 300gr bullets. What a dream to shoot.
Then a fellow brought a 308 Coyoteee. Canadian Armed Forces unit.

He competes in the North American PSR.
20 lbs of extreme challange shooting competitions.
He had that unit & him self dialed in as he cycled them rounds down range as fast as lightning and was dancing bullets off the irons from 300 to 600M like nothing.
Shimite Bender Optical.

Best $10.000 investment he ever bought.
He just returned from Texas and was heading to Eastern Canada to compete out there.


Can't wait too read more on this as those folks shoot at golf-balls on strings at 4 to 600 yards, then run to next target to blast away at "9 metal gongs in the 1300 to 1500 yard range.

He had to load his 308 hot to reach out there.

One fine weekend for sure as my 30/06 and I will be spending some quality months out west for harvest season that is soon to be. Stick chuckers time for now.

Don

[Don_Parsons]

Precision Rifle Shooting (PRS).

FTR for me next year, then strait into PRS.

Nothing like humping a 20 lb rifle, 35 lbs of gear over a 6 to 10 mile course for points in accuracy and timing.

400 to 1700 meters. I'm still trying to wrap my head around trying to shot a golf-ball on a string in the wind at 600 yards. LOL. These folks are truely extreme shooters

[Don_Parsons]

The last few weeks have been pro-active with archery season, work and 2 projects underway.

Project number 1 is a full on F Class build as its at the half-way stage.

Jewel target trigger is in, custom laminated Cheery /Maple knotted wood stock showed up, Pacific tool & guadge bolt from Oregon is soon to arrive,,, Bob Jury full length barrel is in the Counter stages.

The old saying is true,,, once one shoots their first F Class match, there's no turning back.

Been busy reseaching factory reloading stuff that they do.
The reason for this is to speed up my time spent reloading or shooting.
A large % of my shooting is close range from 100 to 600m's so scale bump loading works for this,,, the better consistant powder loading is by volume instead of weigth.

I'm just getting this underway.
My trial and error will be smaller loading test groups in lots of 20.

Each empty case in the row gets the drop pins,,, drop pins are all the same diameter around as they sit flush on the bottom of the cases,,, they are connected on top by a rod in groups of 10 for now.

Then the powder is poored over top, drop pins are removed and the volume in each case is the same,,, bench rest shooters stated doing this years ago, so it's time that I find out for my self if this idea really works.

My scale bump idea works ok, but the powder volumes and weigth is not the most consistant,,, the drop pin idea will hopefully add more in the volume constancy idea.

Well worth trying since reloading close range plinking rounds is time consuming in some ways.

Both rifles will let me know if it works as I'll be able to see the results of this on paper at different yardages.

If it works, what would it look like going forward.

If my friends that do case volume loading are correct, I'm planning on a larger operation for this.

If it saves me re-loading bench time, then I'm game.

Lots of testing in small stages first, fingers crossed at seeing what it looks like on paper.

Don